Try before you buy life changes

A few years back I didn’t cycle, but had friends getting into it. They all had pretty expensive roadbikes and I felt encouraged to dive right in. But I needed to know if cycling would stick for me.

I had a crappy old mountain bike. You know, one with a rusty chain from before they all had fancy rear suspension. I bought cheap road bike tires and mounted them on my jalopy. I set a goal and told myself that if I made it 500 miles cycled in the summer then I must really enjoy it and could afford by buy a better road bike.

The rides were hard. I had to work more than my friends to keep up and it looked ridiculous pulling up next to these modern carbon fiber aerodynamic masterpieces. My bike was often used as a theft deterrent by being placed on the outside of the nicer bikes.

Five hundred miles later I was still at it. It was time to make a bigger investment in the sport. The next year we completed the Seattle to Portland 200-mile ride. Something I never thought I’d do, but was happy to do so on top of carbon fiber.